In response to Congress enacting the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) developed national standards for federal, state and local correctional agencies. The intended purpose of the PREA standards is to provide comprehensive guidelines for preventing, detecting and responding to incidents of sexual abuse and sexual harassment of individuals in prisons, jails, juvenile detention facilities, lock-up facilities and community confinement facilities.
The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center has a zero-tolerance policy prohibiting all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment from staff members, interns, volunteers, and contractors and any form of resident sexual misconduct between residents. Our policy mandates training, including how to accept reports from residents regarding allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment. If the JTDC discovers a resident has been sexually abused or sexually harassed or is at substantial risk of imminent sexual abuse, immediate action will be taken to protect the resident.
If a third party such as a parent, attorney, family member, guardian, fellow resident or friend suspects or is aware of sexual abuse that has occurred in the JTDC they can report the abuse in any of the following ways:
- Contact the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services to report an allegation at (800) 25-ABUSE or (800) 252-2873.
- Send a complaint to JTDC.PREA@cookcountyil.gov.
- Complete a PREA Third Party Grievance Reporting Form and email it to JTDC.PREA@cookcountyil.gov. Grievance Forms are also located in the JTDC Visitation Lobby. Completed Grievance Forms may also be requested from the JTDC PREA Coordinator, Melinda Maciel (contact information listed below), and / or to the JTDC Supervisor In Charge.
- Request to speak to a JTDC Supervisor in Charge in person or by calling (312) 433-7102.
Contact the JTDC PREA Coordinator with questions or concerns:
Melinda Maciel
Certified Department of Justice Juvenile Auditor
Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center PREA Coordinator
melinda.maciel@cookcountyil.gov
Phone: (312) 433-5818
Fax: (312) 433-4859
Additional information regarding PREA can be found at www.prearesourcecenter.org.
JTDC’s policy is to provide resident victims with trauma-informed, timely and unimpeded access to free emergency medical treatment and crisis intervention services. JTDC will provide victims with medical and mental health services consistent with the community level of care. JTDC contracts with Resilience to provide medical and legal advocacy. Communication between Resilience advocates and victims is confidential.
It is the policy of the JTDC (PREA-Investigations) to conduct an internal administrative investigation for all allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment. If during this process, it is determined that a criminal act likely occurred, the investigations will be forwarded to the appropriate criminal investigative entity.
In compliance with Section 115.388 of the PREA Standards, the JTDC collected and reviewed all aggregate data in order to assess and improve the effectiveness of its sexual abuse prevention, detection, and response policies, practices, and training.
JTDC has not had a PREA Audit. Upon completion and pursuant to 115.401, the JTDC PREA Audit will be posted here.